INDIA’S teenage grandmaster, 17-year-old Sarin Nihal, grabbed the solo leadership of the strong 2021 Serbia Chess Open in Belgrade after beating erstwhile co-leader GM Igor Kovalenko in Round 8 after 41 moves of a London System. Nihal now has seven points with just a round to go.
Top seed GM Vladimir Fedoseev, along with GMs Vitally Bernadskiy and IM Mittal Aditya, remained in serious contention for the title by defeating their respective Round 8 foes and moving to within half-a-point of Nihal. Fedoseev smashed GM Pier Luiigi Basso in 46 moves of a Modern Benoni, while Bernadskiy crushed IM Denis Makhnev in just 27 moves of a Semi-Slav and the 15-year-old Aditya – another teen sensation from India – upset veteran GM Evgeny Postny in 32 moves of a Nimzo-Indian. The three now has 6½ points apiece and share second to fourth slots.
Seventeen players with identical six points each are in a logjam for fifth to 21st places, and although out of the running for the title, may cause enough trouble for the leaders.
Nihal, S (2620)-Kovalenko, I (2643) [D02]
Belgrade (8.1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 Bf5 7.Bb5 Rc8 8.Ne5 Bd7 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.c3 e6 11.0-0 a6 12.Bd3 Bd6 13.Bg5 Be7 14.Re1 Qc7 15.Qf3 Nd7 16.Bxe7 Nxe7 17.Qh3 Qf4 18.Nf3 Rc6 19.Re3 g6 20.Rae1 h5 21.g3 Qf6 22.Qg2 Nf5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 24.h4 Kd8 25.Ng5 Kc8 26.Qf3 Kb8 27.b3 Ka7 28.c4 dxc4 29.d5 exd5 30.Qxd5 Nb6 31.Qxf7 cxb3 32.Qxb3 Rhc8 33.Nh3 Rc1 34.Nf4 Qd4 35.Kg2 R8c3 36.Rxc1 Rxc1 37.Ne2 Qa1 38.Nxc1 Qxc1 39.Re6 Qc7 40.Qe3 a5 41.f3 1-0
Basso, PL (2550)-Fedoseev, V (2696) [E81]
Belgrade (8.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Nge2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Ng3 exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 h5 11.Bg5 Qe8 12.Bd3 Nbd7 13.0-0 Nh7 14.Bh4 Ne5 15.f4 Bg4 16.Qd2 Nxd3 17.Qxd3 b5 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nxb5 Qd7 20.Ne2 Bxe2 21.Qxe2 Rab8 22.Nc3 Rb4 23.f5 Rfb8 24.Ra2 Bd4+ 25.Bf2 Bf6 26.Bg3 Bd4+ 27.Bf2 Qe7 28.Bxd4 cxd4 29.Nd1 Nf6 30.fxg6 fxg6 31.Qf3 Rf8 32.Qd3 Qxe4 33.Nf2 Qe8 34.Ra6 Nxd5 35.Ra8 Qe6 36.Rxf8+ Kxf8 37.Qf3+ Kg7 38.Nd3 Rb8 39.Re1 Ne3 40.h3 Rf8 41.Nf4 Qe5 42.g3 h4 43.Qb7+ Kh6 44.Rc1 hxg3 45.Rc7 Rxf4 46.Rh7+ Kg5 0-1
Bernadskiy, V (2599)-Makhnev, D (2480) [D43]
Belgrade (8.6) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.0-0 Rg8 12.d5 cxd5 13.exd5 Bxd5 14.Nd4 a6 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Bh5 Bc5 17.Ne6 Qc8 18.Qe2 Ne4 19.Rad1 Ndf6 20.Rxd5 Nxd5 21.Qxe4 Nf6 22.Nc7+ Kf8 23.Qc6 Nxh5 24.Qxh6+ Rg7 25.Qh8+ Rg8 26.Qxh5 Be7 27.Re1 1-0
Aditya, M (2438)-Postny, E (2583) [E39]
Belgrade (8.9), 07.07.2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 0-0 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.a3 Bxc5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Be7 10.e3 b6 11.Be2 Bb7 12.0-0 d6 13.Rfd1 Qb8 14.b4 a6 15.Na4 Qc7 16.Rac1 Rad8 17.b5 Nb8 18.Qb2 Ba8 19.Qd4 axb5 20.cxb5 Qa7 21.Nxb6 Bxf3 22.Bxf3 Qxa3 23.Ra1 Qc5 24.Qxc5 dxc5 25.Nc4 Rxd1+ 26.Rxd1 Rd8 27.b6 Kf8 28.Bg3 Rxd1+ 29.Bxd1 Na6 30.Ba4 Ne4 31.Bb5 Ng3 32.Ba6 1-0
Iskandarov, M (2535)-Kuzubov, Y (2653) [B33]
Belgrade (8.10) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Nc4 Rc8 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.Bd3 Qd8 13.Ncd5 g6 14.0-0 Bh6 15.a4 0-0 16.c3 Kh8 17.Qe2 f5 18.b4 a5 19.bxa5 Nxa5 20.Rab1 Nc6 21.exf5 gxf5 22.f4 Bg7 23.Kh1 Ne7 24.Nxe7 Qxe7 25.Bc4 Bxc4 26.Qxc4 exf4 27.Qxf4 Bxc3 28.Nd5 Qg7 29.Nxc3 Qxc3 30.Qxd6 Qf6 31.Qf4 Qg7 32.h3 Rbe8 33.Qf3 Re7 34.Rb5 f4 35.Rb3 Rg8 36.Rfb1 Re3 37.Rxe3 fxe3 38.Qe4 Qg6 39.Qxb7 Qc2 40.Rg1 Qxa4 41.Qb2+ Rg7 42.Qb8+ Rg8 43.Qe5+ Rg7 44.Rb1 1-0
Ter-Sahakyan, S (2644)-Annaberdiev, M (2532) [B42]
Belgrade (8.11) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Ne7 6.0-0 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.c3 e5 9.fxe5 Nec6 10.Nf3 0-0 11.Nbd2 d6 12.exd6 Qxd6 13.Nc4 Qc7 14.Ne3 Ne7 15.Bc4 Nd7 16.a3 b5 17.Ba2 Nc5 18.Ng5 Be6 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Nf5 21.Bf4 Be5 22.d6 Bxd6 23.Bxd6 Nxd6 24.Qg4 Rae8 25.Qh4 h5 26.Rf6 Nc4 27.Bxc4 bxc4 28.Qxc4 Kg7 29.Raf1 Re7 30.Qd4 Kg8 31.Rxg6+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nec3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…a3, Kxc4/c5 2.Qb5#; 1…Ka3 2.Qxa4#; 1…Nc5 2.Nd5#; 1…Nd4/d2/a1/c1 2.Qe7#./PN
